Determination of sub-band allocation parameters for wireless networks

ABSTRACT

A technique includes receiving an uplink grant that indicates a size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device sub-band precoder indications; determining a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, including at least: a total number of bits (N) for sub-band precoder indications (where N remains constant for different values of M); a number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications; and a sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands; wherein at least one of the number of bits (m) per sub-band precoder indication and the sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands changes or is a different value based on different sizes (M) of uplink resources; decoding each of the one or more sub-band precoder indications; and precoding, based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications, data for transmission via the one or more sub-bands.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This description relates to communications.

BACKGROUND

A communication system may be a facility that enables communicationbetween two or more nodes or devices, such as fixed or mobilecommunication devices. Signals can be carried on wired or wirelesscarriers.

An example of a cellular communication system is an architecture that isbeing standardized by the 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).A recent development in this field is often referred to as the long-termevolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)radio-access technology. S-UTRA (evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access)is the air interface of 3GPP's Long Term Evolution (LTE) upgrade pathfor mobile networks. In LTE, base stations or access points (APs), whichare referred to as enhanced Node AP (eNBs), provide wireless accesswithin a coverage area or cell. In LTE, mobile devices, or mobilestations are referred to as user equipments (UE). LTE has included anumber of improvements or developments.

A global bandwidth shortage facing wireless carriers has motivated theconsideration of the underutilized millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencyspectrum for future broadband cellular communication networks, forexample. mmWave (or extremely high frequency) may, for example, includethe frequency range between 30 and 300 gigahertz (GHz). Radio waves inthis band may, for example, have wavelengths from ten to onemillimeters, giving it the name millimeter band or millimeter wave. Theamount of wireless data will likely significantly increase in the comingyears. Various techniques have been used in attempt to address thischallenge including obtaining more spectrum, having smaller cell sizes,and using improved technologies enabling more bits/s/Hz. One elementthat may be used to obtain more spectrum is to move to higherfrequencies, above 6 GHz. For fifth generation wireless systems (5G), anaccess architecture for deployment of cellular radio equipment employingmmWave radio spectrum has been proposed. Other example spectrums mayalso be used, such as cmWave radio spectrum (3-30 GHz).

MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) is an antenna technology forwireless communications in which multiple antennas are used at both thesource (transmitter) and the destination (receiver) in order to reduceerrors and/or improve data speed. Beamforming or spatial filtering is asignal processing technique used in arrays for directional signaltransmission or reception. This may be achieved by combining elements ina phased array in such a way that signals at particular anglesexperience constructive interference while others experience destructiveinterference. Beamforming can be used at both the transmitting andreceiving ends in order to achieve spatial selectivity. For example, acomplex antenna weight (including amplitude and phase) may be applied toeach antenna to perform beamforming. A direction and width of a beam maybe controlled based on the amplitude and phase of a set of antennaweights applied to set of antennas.

Also, a user device (or a user equipment/UE) may determine and reportchannel state information (CSI) to a base station (BS). The BS may usethe CSI for scheduling or transmission of data to the UE and/or for theallocation of uplink resources for the UE. The CSI provided by a UE to aBS may include, for example, one or more of a channel quality indicator(CQI), which may be or may include a quantized signal-to-interferenceplus noise ratio (SINR) and which may represent a highest recommendedmodulation and coding scheme for downlink transmission, a rankindication (RI), which may be a recommended transmission rank or numberof layers that should be used for downlink transmission, and a precodingmatrix index (PMI) (or a precoder indication) that indicates arecommended precoder or precoding matrix to be used for precoding fortransmission.

In some cases, precoding may be considered a generalization ofbeamforming to support multi-stream (or multi-layer) transmission inmulti-antenna wireless communications. In conventional single-streambeamforming, the same signal is emitted from each of the transmitantennas with appropriate weighting (phase and gain) such that thesignal power is improved or maximized at the receiver output.

SUMMARY

According to an example implementation, a method may include receiving,by a user device from a base station in a wireless network, downlinkcontrol information including at least an uplink grant that indicates atleast a size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device andone or more sub-band precoder indications for one or more correspondingsub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the user device,wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one or more uplinkresources; determining a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters,including at least: a total number of bits (N) in the downlink controlinformation for the one or more sub-band precoder indications, whereinthe total number of bits (N) for the one or more sub-band precoderindications is the same for a plurality of different sizes (M) of uplinkresources allocated to the user device; a number of bits (m) per each ofthe sub-band precoder indications; and a sub-band size (J) for each ofthe one or more sub-bands; wherein at least one of the number of bits(m) per sub-band precoder indication and the sub-band size (J) for eachof the one or more sub-bands changes or is a different value based ondifferent sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device;decoding the downlink control information and extracting, based on atleast a portion of the set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, anumber of sub-bands (K) and each of the one or more sub-band precoderindications; and precoding, based on the one or more sub-band precoderindications, data for transmission via the one or more sub-bands.

According to an example implementation, an apparatus includes at leastone processor and at least one memory including computer instructionsthat, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatusto: receive, by a user device from a base station in a wireless network,downlink control information including at least an uplink grant thatindicates at least a size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice and one or more sub-band precoder indications for one or morecorresponding sub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to theuser device, wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one ormore uplink resources; determine a set of uplink sub-band allocationparameters, including at least: a total number of bits (N) in thedownlink control information for the one or more sub-band precoderindications, wherein the total number of bits (N) for the one or moresub-band precoder indications is the same for a plurality of differentsizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device; a number ofbits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications; and a sub-bandsize (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands; wherein at least one ofthe number of bits (m) per sub-band precoder indication and the sub-bandsize (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands changes or is a differentvalue based on different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to theuser device; decode the downlink control information and extract, basedon at least a portion of the set of uplink sub-band allocationparameters, a number of sub-bands (K) and each of the one or moresub-band precoder indications; and precode, based on the one or moresub-band precoder indications, data for transmission via the one or moresub-bands.

According to an example implementation, a computer program productincludes a computer-readable storage medium and storing executable codethat, when executed by at least one data processing apparatus, isconfigured to cause the at least one data processing apparatus toperform a method including: receiving, by a user device from a basestation in a wireless network, downlink control information including atleast an uplink grant that indicates at least a size (M) of uplinkresources allocated to the user device and one or more sub-band precoderindications for one or more corresponding sub-bands within the uplinkresources allocated to the user device, wherein each of the one or moresub-bands comprises one or more uplink resources; determining a set ofuplink sub-band allocation parameters, including at least: a totalnumber of bits (N) in the downlink control information for the one ormore sub-band precoder indications, wherein the total number of bits (N)for the one or more sub-band precoder indications is the same for aplurality of different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to theuser device; a number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoderindications; and a sub-band size (J) for each of the one or moresub-bands; wherein at least one of the number of bits (m) per sub-bandprecoder indication and the sub-band size (J) for each of the one ormore sub-bands changes or is a different value based on different sizes(M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device; decoding thedownlink control information and extracting, based on at least a portionof the set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, a number ofsub-bands (K) and each of the one or more sub-band precoder indications;and precoding, based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications,data for transmission via the one or more sub-bands.

According to an example implementation, a method may include receiving,by a user device from a base station in a wireless network, downlinkcontrol information including at least an uplink grant that indicates atleast a size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device andone or more sub-band precoder indications for one or more correspondingsub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the user device,wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one or more uplinkresources; determining a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters,including at least: a total number of bits (N) in the downlink controlinformation for the one or more sub-band precoder indications, whereinthe total number of bits (N) for the one or more sub-band precoderindications is the same for different sizes (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device; and a sub-band size (J) for each of theone or more sub-bands; wherein the sub-band size (J) for each of the oneor more sub-bands changes or is a different value based on differentsizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device; decoding thedownlink control information and extracting, based on at least a portionof the set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, a number ofsub-bands (K), a number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoderindications and each of the one or more sub-band precoder indications;and precoding, based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications,data for transmission via the one or more sub-bands.

According to an example implementation, an apparatus includes at leastone processor and at least one memory including computer instructionsthat, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatusto: receive, by a user device from a base station in a wireless network,downlink control information including at least an uplink grant thatindicates at least a size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice and one or more sub-band precoder indications for one or morecorresponding sub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to theuser device, wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one ormore uplink resources; determine a set of uplink sub-band allocationparameters, including at least: a total number of bits (N) in thedownlink control information for the one or more sub-band precoderindications, wherein the total number of bits (N) for the one or moresub-band precoder indications is the same for different sizes (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device; and a sub-band size (J)for each of the one or more sub-bands; wherein the sub-band size (J) foreach of the one or more sub-bands changes or is a different value basedon different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device;decode the downlink control information and extract, based on at least aportion of the set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, a number ofsub-bands (K), a number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoderindications and each of the one or more sub-band precoder indications;and precode, based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications,data for transmission via the one or more sub-bands.

According to an example implementation, a computer program productincludes a computer-readable storage medium and storing executable codethat, when executed by at least one data processing apparatus, isconfigured to cause the at least one data processing apparatus toperform a method including: receiving, by a user device from a basestation in a wireless network, downlink control information including atleast an uplink grant that indicates at least a size (M) of uplinkresources allocated to the user device and one or more sub-band precoderindications for one or more corresponding sub-bands within the uplinkresources allocated to the user device, wherein each of the one or moresub-bands comprises one or more uplink resources; determining a set ofuplink sub-band allocation parameters, including at least: a totalnumber of bits (N) in the downlink control information for the one ormore sub-band precoder indications, wherein the total number of bits (N)for the one or more sub-band precoder indications is the same fordifferent sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device;and a sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands; whereinthe sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands changes oris a different value based on different sizes (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device; decoding the downlink control informationand extracting, based on at least a portion of the set of uplinksub-band allocation parameters, a number of sub-bands (K), a number ofbits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications and each of theone or more sub-band precoder indications; and precoding, based on theone or more sub-band precoder indications, data for transmission via theone or more sub-bands.

According to an example implementation, a method may include receiving,by a user device from a base station in a wireless network, downlinkcontrol information including at least an uplink grant that indicates atleast a size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device andone or more sub-band precoder indications for one or more correspondingsub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the user device,wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one or more uplinkresources; determining a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters,including at least: a total number of bits (N) in the downlink controlinformation for the one or more sub-band precoder indications, whereinthe total number of bits (N) for the one or more sub-band precoderindications is the same for different sizes (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device; and a number of bits (m) per each of thesub-band precoder indications; wherein the number of bits (m) per eachof the sub-band precoder indications changes or is a different valuebased on different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice; decoding the downlink control information and extracting, basedon at least a portion of the set of uplink sub-band allocationparameters, a number of sub-bands (K) and each of the one or moresub-band precoder indications; and precoding, based on the one or moresub-band precoder indications, data for transmission via the one or moresub-bands.

According to an example implementation, an apparatus includes at leastone processor and at least one memory including computer instructionsthat, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatusto: receive, by a user device from a base station in a wireless network,downlink control information including at least an uplink grant thatindicates at least a size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice and one or more sub-band precoder indications for one or morecorresponding sub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to theuser device, wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one ormore uplink resources; determine a set of uplink sub-band allocationparameters, including at least: a total number of bits (N) in thedownlink control information for the one or more sub-band precoderindications, wherein the total number of bits (N) for the one or moresub-band precoder indications is the same for different sizes (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device; and a number of bits (m)per each of the sub-band precoder indications; wherein the number ofbits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications changes or is adifferent value based on different sizes (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device; decode the downlink control informationand extract, based on at least a portion of the set of uplink sub-bandallocation parameters, a number of sub-bands (K) and each of the one ormore sub-band precoder indications; and precode, based on the one ormore sub-band precoder indications, data for transmission via the one ormore sub-bands.

According to an example implementation, a computer program productincludes a computer-readable storage medium and storing executable codethat, when executed by at least one data processing apparatus, isconfigured to cause the at least one data processing apparatus toperform a method including: receiving, by a user device from a basestation in a wireless network, downlink control information including atleast an uplink grant that indicates at least a size (M) of uplinkresources allocated to the user device and one or more sub-band precoderindications for one or more corresponding sub-bands within the uplinkresources allocated to the user device, wherein each of the one or moresub-bands comprises one or more uplink resources; determining a set ofuplink sub-band allocation parameters, including at least: a totalnumber of bits (N) in the downlink control information for the one ormore sub-band precoder indications, wherein the total number of bits (N)for the one or more sub-band precoder indications is the same fordifferent sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device;and a number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications;wherein the number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoderindications changes or is a different value based on different sizes (M)of uplink resources allocated to the user device; decoding the downlinkcontrol information and extracting, based on at least a portion of theset of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, a number of sub-bands (K)and each of the one or more sub-band precoder indications; andprecoding, based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications, datafor transmission via the one or more sub-bands.

According to an example implementation, a method includes receiving, bya user device from a base station in a wireless network, downlinkcontrol information including at least an uplink grant that indicates atleast a size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device andone or more sub-band precoder indications for one or more correspondingsub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the user device,wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one or more uplinkresources; determining a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters,including at least: a total number of bits (N) in the downlink controlinformation for the one or more sub-band precoder indications, whereinthe total number of bits (N) for the one or more sub-band precoderindications is the same for different sizes (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device; and a number of sub-bands (K); wherein thenumber of sub-bands (K) changes or is a different value based ondifferent sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device;decoding the downlink control information and extracting, based on atleast a portion of the set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, anumber of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications andeach of the one or more sub-band precoder indications; and precoding,based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications, data fortransmission via the one or more sub-bands.

According to an example implementation, an apparatus includes at leastone processor and at least one memory including computer instructionsthat, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatusto: receive, by a user device from a base station in a wireless network,downlink control information including at least an uplink grant thatindicates at least a size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice and one or more sub-band precoder indications for one or morecorresponding sub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to theuser device, wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one ormore uplink resources; determine a set of uplink sub-band allocationparameters, including at least: a total number of bits (N) in thedownlink control information for the one or more sub-band precoderindications, wherein the total number of bits (N) for the one or moresub-band precoder indications is the same for different sizes (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device; and a number of sub-bands(K); wherein the number of sub-bands (K) changes or is a different valuebased on different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice; decode the downlink control information and extract, based on atleast a portion of the set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, anumber of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications andeach of the one or more sub-band precoder indications; and precode,based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications, data fortransmission via the one or more sub-bands.

According to an example implementation, a computer program productincludes a computer-readable storage medium and storing executable codethat, when executed by at least one data processing apparatus, isconfigured to cause the at least one data processing apparatus toperform a method including: receiving, by a user device from a basestation in a wireless network, downlink control information including atleast an uplink grant that indicates at least a size (M) of uplinkresources allocated to the user device and one or more sub-band precoderindications for one or more corresponding sub-bands within the uplinkresources allocated to the user device, wherein each of the one or moresub-bands comprises one or more uplink resources; determining a set ofuplink sub-band allocation parameters, including at least: a totalnumber of bits (N) in the downlink control information for the one ormore sub-band precoder indications, wherein the total number of bits (N)for the one or more sub-band precoder indications is the same fordifferent sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device;and a number of sub-bands (K); wherein the number of sub-bands (K)changes or is a different value based on different sizes (M) of uplinkresources allocated to the user device; decoding the downlink controlinformation and extracting, based on at least a portion of the set ofuplink sub-band allocation parameters, a number of bits (m) per each ofthe sub-band precoder indications and each of the one or more sub-bandprecoder indications; and precoding, based on the one or more sub-bandprecoder indications, data for transmission via the one or moresub-bands.

The details of one or more examples of implementations are set forth inthe accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features willbe apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless network according to an exampleimplementation.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a user device accordingto an example implementation.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a user device accordingto another example implementation.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a user device accordingto another example implementation.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a user device accordingto another example implementation.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a node or wireless station (e.g., basestation/access point or mobile station/user device) according to anexample implementation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless network 130 according to anexample implementation. In the wireless network 130 of FIG. 1, userdevices 131, 132, 133 and 135, which may also be referred to as mobilestations (MSs) or user equipment (UEs), may be connected (and incommunication) with a base station (BS) 134, which may also be referredto as an access point (AP), an enhanced Node B (eNB), a gNB (which maybe a 5G base station) or a network node. At least part of thefunctionalities of an access point (AP), base station (BS) or (e)Node B(eNB) may be also be carried out by any node, server or host which maybe operably coupled to a transceiver, such as a remote radio head. BS(or AP) 134 provides wireless coverage within a cell 136, including touser devices 131, 132, 133 and 135. Although only four user devices areshown as being connected or attached to BS 134, any number of userdevices may be provided. BS 134 is also connected to a core network 150via a S1 interface 151. This is merely one simple example of a wirelessnetwork, and others may be used.

A user device (user terminal, user equipment (UE)) may refer to aportable computing device that includes wireless mobile communicationdevices operating with or without a subscriber identification module(SIM), including, but not limited to, the following types of devices: amobile station (MS), a mobile phone, a cell phone, a smartphone, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a handset, a device using a wirelessmodem (alarm or measurement device, etc.), a laptop and/or touch screencomputer, a tablet, a phablet, a game console, a notebook, and amultimedia device, as examples. It should be appreciated that a userdevice may also be a nearly exclusive uplink only device, of which anexample is a camera or video camera loading images or video clips to anetwork.

In LTE (as an example), core network 150 may be referred to as EvolvedPacket Core (EPC), which may include a mobility management entity (MME)which may handle or assist with mobility/handover of user devicesbetween BSs, one or more gateways that may forward data and controlsignals between the BSs and packet data networks or the Internet, andother control functions or blocks.

The various example implementations may be applied to a wide variety ofwireless technologies or wireless networks, such as LTE, LTE-A, 5G,cmWave, and/or mmWave band networks, or any other wireless network. LTE,5G, cmWave and mmWave band networks are provided only as illustrativeexamples, and the various example implementations may be applied to anywireless technology/wireless network.

Various example implementations may relate, for example, to 5G radioaccess systems (or other systems) with support for Massive MIMO(multiple input, multiple output) and optimized for operating in highcarrier frequencies such as cmWave frequencies (e.g. from 3 GHz onwards)or mmWave frequencies, as examples, according to an illustrative exampleimplementation. Those illustrative systems are typically characterizedby the need for high antenna gain to compensate for increased pathlossand by the need for high capacity and high spectral efficiency torespond to ever increasing wireless traffic. According to an exampleimplementation, the increased attenuation at higher carrier frequenciesmay, for example, be compensated by introducing massive (multi-element)antenna arrays and correspondingly antenna gain via beamforming at theaccess point (AP) / base station (BS) and/or user device. The spectralefficiency may typically improve with the number of spatial streams thesystem can support and thus with the number of antenna ports at the BS.According to an example implementation, spatial multiplexing may includea transmission technique in MIMO wireless communication to transmitindependent and separately encoded data signals, so-called streams, fromeach of the multiple transmit antennas.

A user device (or a user equipment/UE) may determine and report channelstate information (CSI) to a base station (BS). The BS may use the CSIfor scheduling or transmission of data to the UE. The CSI provided by aUE to a BS may include one or more of a channel quality indicator (CQI),which may be or may include a quantized signal-to-interference plusnoise ratio (SINR) and which may represent a highest recommendedmodulation and coding scheme for downlink transmission, a rankindication (RI), which may be a recommended transmission rank or numberof layers that should be used for downlink transmission, and a transmitprecoding matrix index (TPMI) that indicates a recommended precoder orprecoding matrix index to be used for precoding transmission, and/or asounding resource signal indicator (SRI) that indicates a recommendedSRS for multiple SRS transmission. Precoding may be considered ageneralization of beamforming to support multi-stream (or multi-layer)transmission in multi-antenna wireless communications.

According to an example implementation, a base station (BS) may allocateuplink resources (e.g., physical resource blocks (PRBs)) to a UE (oruser device), e.g., based on channel state information (CSI) reported bythe UE. The BS may transmit on the downlink control channel to the UEdownlink control information (DCI) including an uplink grant (e.g.,indicating uplink resources or PRBs allocated to the UE for uplinktransmission) and a precoder indication (or a transmit precoding matrixindicator or TPMI) that indicates a precoder to be used by the UE foruplink transmission via the indicated uplink resources/PRBs of theuplink grant. The allocated uplink resources may be divided into one ormore sub-bands, where each sub-band is defined (and understood by boththe BS and the UE) to comprise a certain number of PRBs.

According to an illustrative example implementation, a UE may use a dualcodebook for precoding, including a W1 codebook for wideband (e.g.,covering multiple sub-bands or even all sub-bands) precoding, and a W2codebook for sub-band (or frequency-specific or frequency-selective)precoding. Wideband precoding may include precoding applied by the UEacross all frequencies or sub-bands, whereas sub-band precoding mayinclude the UE performing a sub-band (or frequency)-specific precodingfor one or more sub-bands or frequencies or set of frequencies. Thus,for example, because uplink channel state information (CSI) may bedifferent for different frequencies or sub-bands, a different sub-bandprecoder may be used to perform precoding for different sub-bands. Thus,for example, the BS may transmit DCI including an uplink grant (e.g.,indicating a set of resources/PRBs allocated to the UE for uplinktransmission), a wideband precoder indication (e.g., a transmit precodermatrix index with respect to W1 codebook) and a sub-band precoderindication (e.g., a transmit precoder matrix index with respect to W2codebook) for each of one or more sub-bands (or portions thereof)allocated to the UE by the uplink grant.

According to an example implementation, unlike LTE, New Radio (NR) or 5Guplink (UL) MIMO supports frequency-selective precoding. Thus, accordingto an example implementation, a NR (5G) UE may receive precoderinformation for all related sub-bands, as well as wideband.

There are several problems for the UL grant in DCI. For example, iftwo-stage (W1, W2) UL codebook design is applied, the indication ofprecoders for both W1 (wideband) and W2 (sub-band or frequencyselective) may typically be signaled by BS/gNB to the UE, e.g., when acentral BS/gNB is used. W1 precoder indication is usually a widebandparameter, and an indication of W2 precoder indication(s) is typicallysub-band specific. At least in some cases, the overhead of signaling(e.g., via DCI) W2 (or sub-band precoder indications) from the BS/gNB tothe UE may be relatively high due to a large number of sub-bands.Allocation of a large portion of DCI payload for W2 (sub-band) precoderindication signaling may present a significant overhead problem forprecoder feedback.

According to an example implementation, at least in some cases, if thesub-band size is fixed, the signaling overhead for sub-band precoderindications is a function of UE resource/PRB allocation size. A largerUE PRB allocation (e.g., indicated in UL grant within DCI), which maythen indicate more sub-bands in the case sub-band size is fixed, maytypically require a larger signaling overhead (e.g., due to a largernumber of sub-bands). If the DCI size is designed to signal sub-bandprecoder indications for sub-bands that cover the full system bandwidth,this approach may be inefficient because many UEs will require sub-bandprecoder indications only for sub-bands (or a portion thereof) that arewithin the UL resources allocated to the UE within the UL grant. Thus,including sub-band precoder indications for non-allocated sub-bands is awaste of downlink resources within the DCI. If the BS/gNB only indicatesthe sub-band precoder indications for sub-bands (or a portion thereof)within the allocated PRBs, the UE UL grant payload size will bevariable, which is undesirable for DCI design. For example, a variablesize DCI (e.g., due to a variable size of the total number of bits inthe DCI for the sub-band precoder indications) may complicate thedecoding process at the UE, which may be undesirable.

Therefore, according to an example implementation, a single-step DCIdesign (where DCI transmitted to a UE is provided in a single step) maybe provided that includes a common DCI format for sub-band precoderindications with (or for) different UL resource allocation sizes.Alternatively, the DCI format and/or sub-band allocation parameterconfigurations may be used in a two-step DCI design, or in any design inwhich signalling is sent by the BS to the UE that includes one or moresub-band precoder indications. Since the DCI format is common fordifferent UL resource allocation sizes, the DCI size may be fixed, whichmay simplify the decoding process for the UE/user device.

Assume that the overall DCI (downlink control information) payload sizefor sub-band precoder information (for one or more sub-band precoderindications) in the UL grant is N bits. The size of precoder indicationper sub-band is m bits/sub-band. The number of PRBs allocated to aspecific UE is M. If K is the number of sub-bands that the M PRBs span,we have N=m·K. If M PRBs comprise K sub-bands, then,

$K = \frac{M}{J}$

(assuming, according to an illustrative example implementation that M isa multiple of J, which may or may not be the case), where J is asub-band size (or sub-band width). Therefore, the total number of bits(N) in the DCI for sub-band precoder indications may be defined or maybe determined as:

${N = \frac{m \cdot M}{J}},$

Where N is a total number of bits in the DCI for the sub-band precoderindications, M a size of uplink resources allocated to the user devicevia the UL grant, m is the number of bits per sub-band precoderindication, and J is the sub-band size (or sub-band width, e.g., whereall sub-bands within the UL resources allocated to the user device via aDCI and corresponding to the sub-band precoder indications contained inthe DCI may be the same width or size for that UL resource allocation).

According to an example implementation, the DCI payload size N may befixed or constant for a plurality (or even all) M values, and the N bitsin the DCI for sub-band precoder indications may be distributeddifferently depending on the UL PRB/resource allocation size M. Thus,for different PRB allocation sizes M, either m or J or both can bevaried or changed to keep N the same. In this manner, a flexible DCIformat may be provided, while keeping the total number of bits (N) inthe DCI for sub-band precoder indications the same or constant, e.g., inorder to simplify the UE's decoding of the DCI (including to simplifythe UE's decoding of sub-band precoder indications transmitted via theDCI).

Some illustrative example implementations of sub-band allocationparameters will now be described. As noted, for different PRB allocationsizes M (or as M changes), either m (Table 1) or J (table 2) or both(Table 3) can be varied or changed to keep N the same.

TABLE 1 Sub-band allocation parameters with fixed N = 10 and fixed K = 5Number of Allocated BW Sub-band size bits/sub-band Sub-bands (K) (M)(MHz) (J) (MHz) (m) N (bits) 5 100 20 2 10 5 80 16 2 10 5 50 10 2 10 530 6 2 10

As shown in Table 1, a set of sub-band allocation parameters is shown,according to an example implementation. In Table 1, for example,sub-band allocation parameters are shown in the case where N (a totalnumber of bits in the DCI for the sub-band precoder indications), K (anumber of sub-bands) and m (the number of bits per sub-band precoderindication) are fixed or constant for different values for M, and whereJ (sub-band size or sub-band width) varies (or changes) based on M (orbased on different values for M). M may be indicated by or within the ULgrant sent by the BS/gNB to the UE. Thus, as can be seen in the exampleof Table 1, N (a total number of bits in the DCI for the sub-bandprecoder indications) is fixed at 10 bits; K (the number of sub-bands)is fixed at 5 sub-bands; m (the size of a precoder indication persub-band) is set at 2 bits; while J (sub-band size) varies or changesfrom 20 MHz to 6 MHz as M (the number of PRBs or amount of UL resourcesallocated to a specific UE) varies or changes from 100 MHz to 30 MHz.Thus, the 10 bits for sub-band precoder indications may be used in thisexample of Table 1 to provide a 2 bit per sub-band precoder indicationfor each of 5 sub-bands.

With a given precoder indication size per sub-band of m bits/sub-band,the number of sub-bands is determined as

$K = {\frac{N}{m}.}$

If the allocation size is M PRBs, each sub-band will have

$J = {\frac{M}{K}{PRBs}}$

(assuming M is a multiple of K). This approach, according to thisillustrative example, fixes the number of sub-bands to K, regardless ofthe PRB allocation size (M). The sub-band size J will be variable,depending on the allocated UE-specific PRB allocation size M. A largerPRB allocation M will result in a wider sub-band size J. An example ofsuch design can be shown in Table 1 with N=10 and K=5. It shows that thesub-band size is variable.

TABLE 2 Sub-band allocation parameters with fixed N = 10, and fixed J =20 (MHz) Number of Allocated BW Sub-band size bits/sub-band Sub-bands(K) (M) (MHz) (J) (MHz) (m) N (bits) 5 100 20 2 10 3 60 20 3  9* 2 40 205 10 1 20 20 10 10 (*1 bit is reserved)

As shown in Table 2, a set of sub-band allocation parameters is shown,according to another example implementation. In Table 2, for example,sub-band allocation parameters are shown in the case where N (a totalnumber of bits in the DCI for the sub-band precoder indications) and J(sub-band size or sub-band width) are fixed or constant for differentvalues for M, and where K (a number of sub-bands) and m (the number ofbits per sub-band precoder indication) each vary (or change) based on M(or based on different values for M). Thus, as can be seen in theexample of Table 2, N (a total number of bits in the DCI for thesub-band precoder indications) is fixed at 10 bits (including a reservedbit in the case of m=3); J (sub-band size or sub-band width) is fixed at20 MHz; whereas K (the number of sub-bands) varies from 5 sub-bands to 1sub-band, and m (the size of a precoder indication per sub-band) variesfrom 2 bits to 10 bits per sub-band precoder indication as M varies from100 MHz to 20 MHz, for example. Thus, the 10 bits (N) for sub-bandprecoder indications may be used in this example of Table 2 to provide am=2−>10 bit sub-band precoder indication (m) for each of K=5−>1sub-bands, based on the value of M.

Referring to Table 2, with a fixed sub-band DCI payload size N and witha given sub-band size of J PRBs, the total number of sub-bands is

$K = \frac{M}{J}$

(assuming M is a multiple of J). The payload size per sub-band will be

$m = {\frac{N}{K} = {{N \cdot \frac{J}{M}}{{bits}.}}}$

This approach fixes the sub-band size J. The payload size per sub-bandm, providing the precoder indication, will be a function of UE PRBallocation size M. A smaller PRB allocation size M will have a larger m,as the size of precoder indication per sub-band. One example of thisdesign is shown in Table 2 with N=10 and a fixed sub-band size J=20 MHz.The number of sub-bands and the related payload bits/per sub-band arevariable. When a narrow BW (bandwidth) is allocated to the UE, the UEhas a few sub-bands while each sub-band can have a large payload size inUL grant.

From the example design in Table 2, some allocations have large payloadsize per sub-band as large as 10 bits/sub-band for 20 MHz allocation. Ifthe payload is used to signal sub-band PMI, such design is suitable toaccommodate high-resolution codebook design with frequency-selectiveprecoding.

As shown in Table 3, a set of sub-band allocation parameters is shown,according to another example implementation. In Table 3, for example,sub-band allocation parameters are shown in the case where N (a totalnumber of bits in the DCI for the sub-band precoder indications) isfixed or constant for different values for M, and where J (sub-band sizeor sub-band width), K (a number of sub-bands) and m (the number of bitsper sub-band precoder indication) each vary (or change) based on M (orchange based on different values for M). Thus, as can be seen in theexample of Table 3, N (a total number of bits in the DCI for thesub-band precoder indications) is fixed at 10 bits (including a reservedbit in the case of m=3); whereas the other parameters of K, J and m eachvary, to provide even more flexibility, while maintaining N fixed orconstant, even though M may be different values.

TABLE 3 Example: Sub-band allocation parameters with fixed N = 10 Numberof Allocated BW Sub-band size bits/sub-band Sub-bands (K) (M) (MHz) (J)(MHz) (m) N (bits) 5 100 20 2 10 5 80 16 2 10 3 60 20 3  9* 5 50 10 2 10(*1 bit is reserved)

Thus, as shown in Table 3, with a fixed sub-band DCI payload size N,both the number of sub-bands K and sub-band size J can be variable for agiven PRB allocation size M. One possible assignment of K and J is shownin Table 3 as an example design, with UE BW allocation from 20 MHz to100 MHz.

Note that Table 3 describes an illustrative example for sub-bandallocation with a fixed payload size N=10 bits. Other examples arepossible to adjust number of sub-bands K and/or sub-band size J. The DCIdesign shall be able to accommodate corresponding uplink codebook designwith proper size of precoder indication/feedback. The DCI payload canthus be flexibly used for sub-band PMI indication.

The above examples illustrate implementations in which the precoderindications in the DCI correspond to sub-bands that are all of the samesize. Therefore, the size of the allocated uplink resources is aninteger multiple of the sub-band size. In some implementations, thesub-band boundaries may be defined to be independent of the allocateduplink resources. In such cases, the sub-bands are not aligned to beginand end at the boundaries of the uplink resources allocated to the UE.Then, the allocated uplink resources may only partially overlap with thepredefined sub-bands at either edge. Therefore, these edge sub-bands aresmaller in size relative to the other sub-bands. In other words, theprecoding of uplink transmission, based on the precoder indication inthe DCI, is done for smaller sub-bands at the edges of the allocateduplink resources as compared with the central sub-bands, which are allof the same size. Both the BS and the UE would have a commonunderstanding of the sub-band definitions and hence the number ofsub-bands within the allocated uplink resources. Therefore, the UE wouldcorrectly interpret the N bits used for precoder indication in the DCIas intended by the BS.

To accommodate this flexible use of DCI, a combination of predefinedconfigurations and RRC (radio resource control) signalling may be used.Each of the above tables can correspond to a configuration for sub-bandPMI indication that is predefined in the specifications. The gNB/BS maythen signal, for example in the SIB (system information block), whichconfiguration (e.g., which table) it is using. Alternatively, if thegNB/BS determines that it is more advantageous to use one configurationfor a first set of UEs and a different configuration for a second set ofUEs, then it may signal the configuration through UE-specific RRCsignalling.

Alternatively, the gNB may configure the entire table through RRCsignalling (e.g., either in the SIB/system information block or throughUE-specific RRC signalling). This would allow the network even moreflexibility in configuration—it can expand or shrink the size of thetable semi-statically.

Therefore, various example implementations may include one or more ofthe following features and/or advantages, by way of example:

1) A single-step DCI design may be used (or other design) for differentUL allocation sizes (M) that allows for flexibly using the fixed DCIpayload size to indicate the sub-band precoder information.

2) The total number of payload bits (N) for sub-band precoderindications in the DCI is kept fixed by varying for different allocationsizes either

-   -   i) the size (J) of the sub-band for which each precoder is        indicated, and keeping the number (m) of bits per sub-band        precoder indication fixed and the number (K) of sub-bands fixed        (for different values of M), or    -   ii) the number (m) of bits used for indicating each sub-band        precoder indication keeping the sub-band size (J) fixed,    -   iii) or both the size (J) of the sub-band and the number (m) of        bits for each sub-band precoder indication.

3) The network (or BS/gNB) may signal to UE how the UE may, for example,interpret the DCI for precoder indication through RRC (radio resourcecontrol) configuration (e.g., indicating which of the Tables, e.g.,Table 1, Table 2, or Table 3, should be used for decoding DCI), whichcan include both SIB indication and UE-specific signalling. Or, the UEmay be preconfigured with one or more parameters, such as which Tablewill be used, and/or preconfigured with a specific value for J, m, K,etc. Or signalling may be used to allow a BS/gNB to indicate to the UEwhich of the Tables (e.g., which set of sub-band allocation parameters)will be used, and/or to indicate a fixed value for one or more of theparameters such as values for J, m and/or K.

EXAMPLE 1

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a user device accordingto an example implementation. Operation 210 includes receiving, by auser device from a base station in a wireless network, downlink controlinformation including at least an uplink grant that indicates at least asize (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device and one ormore sub-band precoder indications for one or more correspondingsub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the user device,wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one or more uplinkresources. Operation 220 includes determining a set of uplink sub-bandallocation parameters, including at least: a total number of bits (N) inthe downlink control information for the one or more sub-band precoderindications, wherein the total number of bits (N) for the one or moresub-band precoder indications is the same for a plurality of differentsizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device; a number ofbits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications; and a sub-bandsize (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands; wherein at least one ofthe number of bits (m) per sub-band precoder indication and the sub-bandsize (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands changes or is a differentvalue based on different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to theuser device. Operation 230 includes decoding the downlink controlinformation and extracting, based on at least a portion of the set ofuplink sub-band allocation parameters, a number of sub-bands (K) andeach of the one or more sub-band precoder indications. Operation 240includes precoding, based on the one or more sub-band precoderindications, data for transmission via the one or more sub-bands.

EXAMPLE 2

According to an example implementation of example 1, wherein thesub-band size for at least one of the one or more sub-bands within theuplink resources allocated to the user device is different from thesub-band size for the other sub-bands within the uplink resourcesallocated to the user device. For example, this may allow the uplinkresource allocation to be a non-integer multiple of the fixed sub-bandsize and to allow sub-band boundaries to be defined independently of theuplink resource allocation.

EXAMPLE 3

According to an example implementation of any of examples 1-2, furthercomprising: transmitting, by the user device, the precoded data via theone or more sub-bands of the uplink resources allocated to the userdevice.

EXAMPLE 4

According to an example implementation of any of examples 1-3, whereinthe determining a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameterscomprises: determining, by the user device, a set of uplink sub-bandallocation parameters based on at least one of the following: a tablelookup based on the size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice; and a formula that indicates a set of uplink sub-band allocationparameters depending on the size (M) of uplink resources allocated tothe user device.

EXAMPLE 5

According to an example implementation of any of examples 1-4, whereinthe determining a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameterscomprises: determining the total number of bits (N) in the downlinkcontrol information for the one or more sub-band precoder indicationsbased on one of the following: the user device being previouslyconfigured with the total number of bits (N) in the downlink controlinformation for the one or more sub-band precoder indications; andreceiving, by the user device, a control message from the base stationindicating the total number of bits (N) in the downlink controlinformation for the one or more sub-band precoder indications.

EXAMPLE 6

According to an example implementation of any of examples 1-5, whereinthe determining a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters comprisesdetermining a number of sub-bands (K) based on one of the following: theuser device being previously configured with the number of sub-bands(K); and receiving, by the user device, a control message from the basestation indicating the number of sub-bands (K).

EXAMPLE 7

According to an example implementation of any of examples 1-6, whereinthe determining the sub-band size for each of the one or more sub-bandscomprises one of the following: determining, by the user device, thesame sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands based on aformula depending on the number of sub-bands (K); and determining, bythe user device, the sub-band size for each of the one or more sub-bandsbased on at least: determining, by the user device, the sub-band sizefor at least one of the first and last sub-bands within the uplinkresources allocated to the user device based on previous configuration;determining, by the user device, the same sub-band size for each of theremaining sub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the userdevice based on a formula depending on the number of sub-bands (K). Forexample, this may allow for dividing up the allocated uplink resourcesequally, and/or to allow for different sizes for the first and lastsub-bands based on previous configuration (e.g., of allowable sub-bandboundaries).

EXAMPLE 8

According to an example implementation of any of examples 1-7, wherein:the sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands is differentfor a plurality of different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated tothe user device; a number of sub-bands (K) is a same value for differentsizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device; and thenumber of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications is asame value for different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to theuser device.

EXAMPLE 9

According to an example implementation of any of examples 1-8, wherein:the sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands is a samevalue for different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice; a number of sub-bands (K) is different for a plurality ofdifferent sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device;and the number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indicationsis different for a plurality of different sizes (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device.

EXAMPLE 10

According to an example implementation of any of examples 1-9, wherein:the sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands is differentfor a plurality of different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated tothe user device; a number of sub-bands (K) is different for a pluralityof different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device;and the number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indicationsis different for a plurality of different sizes (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device.

EXAMPLE 11

According to an example implementation of any of examples 1-10, whereinthe downlink control information is provided to the user device via asingle-step downlink configuration.

EXAMPLE 12

An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memoryincluding computer instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the apparatus to perform a method of any of examples1-11.

EXAMPLE 13

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a user device accordingto an example implementation. Operation 310 includes receiving, by auser device from a base station in a wireless network, downlink controlinformation including at least an uplink grant that indicates at least asize (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device and one ormore sub-band precoder indications for one or more correspondingsub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the user device,wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one or more uplinkresources; Operation 320 includes determining a set of uplink sub-bandallocation parameters, including at least: a total number of bits (N) inthe downlink control information for the one or more sub-band precoderindications, wherein the total number of bits (N) for the one or moresub-band precoder indications is the same for different sizes (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device; and a sub-band size (J)for each of the one or more sub-bands; wherein the sub-band size (J) foreach of the one or more sub-bands changes or is a different value basedon different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device.Operation 330 includes decoding the downlink control information andextracting, based on at least a portion of the set of uplink sub-bandallocation parameters, a number of sub-bands (K), a number of bits (m)per each of the sub-band precoder indications and each of the one ormore sub-band precoder indications. And operation 340 includesprecoding, based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications, datafor transmission via the one or more sub-bands.

EXAMPLE 14

According to an example implementation of example 13, wherein thesub-band size for at least one of the one or more sub-bands within theuplink resources allocated to the user device is different from thesub-band size for the other sub-bands within the uplink resourcesallocated to the user device.

EXAMPLE 15

According to an example implementation of any of examples 13-14, whereina number of sub-bands (K) is a same value for different sizes (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device; and the number of bits(m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications is a same value fordifferent sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device.

EXAMPLE 16

According to an example implementation of any of examples 13-15, andfurther comprising: transmitting, by the user device, the precoded datavia the one or more sub-bands of the uplink resources allocated to theuser device.

EXAMPLE 17

According to an example implementation of any of examples 13-16, whereinthe determining a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameterscomprises: determining, by the user device, a set of uplink sub-bandallocation parameters based on at least one of the following: a tablelookup based on the size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice; and a formula that indicates a set of uplink sub-band allocationparameters depending on the size (M) of uplink resources allocated tothe user device.

EXAMPLE 18

An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memoryincluding computer instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the apparatus to perform a method of any of examples13-17.

EXAMPLE 19

An apparatus comprising a computer program product including anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium and storing executablecode that, when executed by at least one data processing apparatus, isconfigured to cause the at least one data processing apparatus toperform a method of any of examples 13-17.

EXAMPLE 20

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a user device accordingto an example implementation. Operation 410 includes receiving, by auser device from a base station in a wireless network, downlink controlinformation including at least an uplink grant that indicates at least asize (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device and one ormore sub-band precoder indications for one or more correspondingsub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the user device,wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one or more uplinkresources. Operation 420 includes determining a set of uplink sub-bandallocation parameters, including at least: a total number of bits (N) inthe downlink control information for the one or more sub-band precoderindications, wherein the total number of bits (N) for the one or moresub-band precoder indications is the same for different sizes (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device; and a number of bits (m)per each of the sub-band precoder indications; wherein the number ofbits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications changes or is adifferent value based on different sizes (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device. Operation 430 includes decoding thedownlink control information and extracting, based on at least a portionof the set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, a number ofsub-bands (K) and each of the one or more sub-band precoder indications.And, operation 440 includes precoding, based on the one or more sub-bandprecoder indications, data for transmission via the one or moresub-bands.

EXAMPLE 21

According to an example implementation of example 20, wherein thesub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands is a same valuefor different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice; and a number of sub-bands (K) is different for a plurality ofdifferent sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device.

EXAMPLE 22

An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memoryincluding computer instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the apparatus to perform a method of any of examples20-21.

EXAMPLE 23

An apparatus comprising a computer program product including anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium and storing executablecode that, when executed by at least one data processing apparatus, isconfigured to cause the at least one data processing apparatus toperform a method of examples 20-21.

EXAMPLE 24

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a user device accordingto an example implementation. Operation 510 includes receiving, by auser device from a base station in a wireless network, downlink controlinformation including at least an uplink grant that indicates at least asize (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device and one ormore sub-band precoder indications for one or more correspondingsub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the user device,wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one or more uplinkresources. Operation 520 includes determining a set of uplink sub-bandallocation parameters, including at least: a total number of bits (N) inthe downlink control information for the one or more sub-band precoderindications, wherein the total number of bits (N) for the one or moresub-band precoder indications is the same for different sizes (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device; and a number of sub-bands(K); wherein the number of sub-bands (K) changes or is a different valuebased on different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice. Operation 530 includes decoding the downlink control informationand extracting, based on at least a portion of the set of uplinksub-band allocation parameters, a number of bits (m) per each of thesub-band precoder indications and each of the one or more sub-bandprecoder indications. Operation 540 includes precoding, based on the oneor more sub-band precoder indications, data for transmission via the oneor more sub-bands.

EXAMPLE 25

According to an example implementation of example 24, wherein thesub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands is a same valuefor different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice; and a number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoderindications is different for a plurality of different sizes (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a wireless station (e.g., AP, BS, eNB, UEor user device) 1000 according to an example implementation. Thewireless station 1000 may include, for example, one or two RF (radiofrequency) or wireless transceivers 1002A, 1002B, where each wirelesstransceiver includes a transmitter to transmit signals and a receiver toreceive signals. The wireless station also includes a processor orcontrol unit/entity (controller) 1004 to execute instructions orsoftware and control transmission and receptions of signals, and amemory 1006 to store data and/or instructions.

Processor 1004 may also make decisions or determinations, generateframes, packets or messages for transmission, decode received frames ormessages for further processing, and other tasks or functions describedherein. Processor 1004, which may be a baseband processor, for example,may generate messages, packets, frames or other signals for transmissionvia wireless transceiver 1002 (1002A or 1002B). Processor 1004 maycontrol transmission of signals or messages over a wireless network, andmay control the reception of signals or messages, etc., via a wirelessnetwork (e.g., after being down-converted by wireless transceiver 1002,for example). Processor 1004 may be programmable and capable ofexecuting software or other instructions stored in memory or on othercomputer media to perform the various tasks and functions describedabove, such as one or more of the tasks or methods described above.Processor 1004 may be (or may include), for example, hardware,programmable logic, a programmable processor that executes software orfirmware, and/or any combination of these. Using other terminology,processor 1004 and transceiver 1002 together may be considered as awireless transmitter/receiver system, for example.

In addition, referring to FIG. 6, a controller (or processor) 1008 mayexecute software and instructions, and may provide overall control forthe station 1000, and may provide control for other systems not shown inFIG. 6, such as controlling input/output devices (e.g., display,keypad), and/or may execute software for one or more applications thatmay be provided on wireless station 1000, such as, for example, an emailprogram, audio/video applications, a word processor, a Voice over IPapplication, or other application or software.

In addition, a storage medium may be provided that includes storedinstructions, which when executed by a controller or processor mayresult in the processor 1004, or other controller or processor,performing one or more of the functions or tasks described above.

According to another example implementation, RF or wirelesstransceiver(s) 1002A/1002B may receive signals or data and/or transmitor send signals or data. Processor 1004 (and possibly transceivers1002A/1002B) may control the RF or wireless transceiver 1002A or 1002Bto receive, send, broadcast or transmit signals or data.

The embodiments are not, however, restricted to the system that is givenas an example, but a person skilled in the art may apply the solution toother communication systems. Another example of a suitablecommunications system is the 5G concept. It is assumed that networkarchitecture in 5G will be quite similar to that of the LTE-advanced. 5Gis likely to use multiple input—multiple output (MIMO) antennas, manymore base stations or nodes than the LTE (a so-called small cellconcept), including macro sites operating in co-operation with smallerstations and perhaps also employing a variety of radio technologies forbetter coverage and enhanced data rates.

It should be appreciated that future networks will most probably utilisenetwork functions virtualization (NFV) which is a network architectureconcept that proposes virtualizing network node functions into “buildingblocks” or entities that may be operationally connected or linkedtogether to provide services. A virtualized network function (VNF) maycomprise one or more virtual machines running computer program codesusing standard or general type servers instead of customized hardware.Cloud computing or data storage may also be utilized. In radiocommunications this may mean node operations may be carried out, atleast partly, in a server, host or node operationally coupled to aremote radio head. It is also possible that node operations will bedistributed among a plurality of servers, nodes or hosts. It should alsobe understood that the distribution of labour between core networkoperations and base station operations may differ from that of the LTEor even be non-existent.

Implementations of the various techniques described herein may beimplemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer hardware,firmware, software, or in combinations of them. Implementations may beimplemented as a computer program product, i.e., a computer programtangibly embodied in an information carrier, e.g., in a machine-readablestorage device or in a propagated signal, for execution by, or tocontrol the operation of, a data processing apparatus, e.g., aprogrammable processor, a computer, or multiple computers.Implementations may also be provided on a computer readable medium orcomputer readable storage medium, which may be a non-transitory medium.Implementations of the various techniques may also includeimplementations provided via transitory signals or media, and/orprograms and/or software implementations that are downloadable via theInternet or other network(s), either wired networks and/or wirelessnetworks. In addition, implementations may be provided via machine typecommunications (MTC), and also via an Internet of Things (JOT).

The computer program may be in source code form, object code form, or insome intermediate form, and it may be stored in some sort of carrier,distribution medium, or computer readable medium, which may be anyentity or device capable of carrying the program. Such carriers includea record medium, computer memory, read-only memory, photoelectricaland/or electrical carrier signal, telecommunications signal, andsoftware distribution package, for example. Depending on the processingpower needed, the computer program may be executed in a singleelectronic digital computer or it may be distributed amongst a number ofcomputers.

Furthermore, implementations of the various techniques described hereinmay use a cyber-physical system (CPS) (a system of collaboratingcomputational elements controlling physical entities). CPS may enablethe implementation and exploitation of massive amounts of interconnectedICT devices (sensors, actuators, processors microcontrollers, . . . )embedded in physical objects at different locations. Mobile cyberphysical systems, in which the physical system in question has inherentmobility, are a subcategory of cyber-physical systems. Examples ofmobile physical systems include mobile robotics and electronicstransported by humans or animals. The rise in popularity of smartphoneshas increased interest in the area of mobile cyber-physical systems.Therefore, various implementations of techniques described herein may beprovided via one or more of these technologies.

A computer program, such as the computer program(s) described above, canbe written in any form of programming language, including compiled orinterpreted languages, and can be deployed in any form, including as astand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unitor part of it suitable for use in a computing environment. A computerprogram can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiplecomputers at one site or distributed across multiple sites andinterconnected by a communication network.

Method steps may be performed by one or more programmable processorsexecuting a computer program or computer program portions to performfunctions by operating on input data and generating output. Method stepsalso may be performed by, and an apparatus may be implemented as,special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gatearray) or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer, chip orchipset. Generally, a processor will receive instructions and data froma read-only memory or a random access memory or both. Elements of acomputer may include at least one processor for executing instructionsand one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data.Generally, a computer also may include, or be operatively coupled toreceive data from or transfer data to, or both, one or more mass storagedevices for storing data, e.g., magnetic, magneto-optical disks, oroptical disks. Information carriers suitable for embodying computerprogram instructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory,including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM,EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal harddisks or removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROMdisks. The processor and the memory may be supplemented by, orincorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.

To provide for interaction with a user, implementations may beimplemented on a computer having a display device, e.g., a cathode raytube (CRT) or liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor, for displayinginformation to the user and a user interface, such as a keyboard and apointing device, e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by which the user canprovide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices can be used toprovide for interaction with a user as well; for example, feedbackprovided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, e.g., visualfeedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input from theuser can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactileinput.

Implementations may be implemented in a computing system that includes aback-end component, e.g., as a data server, or that includes amiddleware component, e.g., an application server, or that includes afront-end component, e.g., a client computer having a graphical userinterface or a Web browser through which a user can interact with animplementation, or any combination of such back-end, middleware, orfront-end components. Components may be interconnected by any form ormedium of digital data communication, e.g., a communication network.Examples of communication networks include a local area network (LAN)and a wide area network (WAN), e.g., the Internet.

While certain features of the described implementations have beenillustrated as described herein, many modifications, substitutions,changes and equivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art. Itis, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended tocover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spiritof the various embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a user devicefrom a base station in a wireless network, downlink control informationincluding at least an uplink grant that indicates at least a size (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device and one or more sub-bandprecoder indications for one or more corresponding sub-bands within theuplink resources allocated to the user device, wherein each of the oneor more sub-bands comprises one or more uplink resources; determining aset of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, including at least: atotal number of bits (N) in the downlink control information for the oneor more sub-band precoder indications, wherein the total number of bits(N) for the one or more sub-band precoder indications is the same for aplurality of different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to theuser device; a number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoderindications; and a sub-band size (J) for each of the one or moresub-bands; wherein at least one of the number of bits (m) per sub-bandprecoder indication and the sub-band size (J) for each of the one ormore sub-bands changes or is a different value based on different sizes(M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device; decoding thedownlink control information and extracting, based on at least a portionof the set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, a number ofsub-bands (K) and each of the one or more sub-band precoder indications;and precoding, based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications,data for transmission via the one or more sub-bands.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the sub-band size for at least one of the one or moresub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the user device isdifferent from the sub-band size for the other sub-bands within theuplink resources allocated to the user device.
 3. The method of claim 1and further comprising: transmitting, by the user device, the precodeddata via the one or more sub-bands of the uplink resources allocated tothe user device.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining a setof uplink sub-band allocation parameters comprises: determining, by theuser device, a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters based on atleast one of the following: a table lookup based on the size (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device; and a formula thatindicates a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters depending onthe size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device.
 5. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the determining a set of uplink sub-bandallocation parameters comprises: determining the total number of bits(N) in the downlink control information for the one or more sub-bandprecoder indications based on one of the following: the user devicebeing previously configured with the total number of bits (N) in thedownlink control information for the one or more sub-band precoderindications; and receiving, by the user device, a control message fromthe base station indicating the total number of bits (N) in the downlinkcontrol information for the one or more sub-band precoder indications.6. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining a set of uplinksub-band allocation parameters comprises determining a number ofsub-bands (K) based on one of the following: the user device beingpreviously configured with the number of sub-bands (K); and receiving,by the user device, a control message from the base station indicatingthe number of sub-bands (K).
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein thedetermining the sub-band size for each of the one or more sub-bandscomprises one of the following: determining, by the user device, thesame sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands based on aformula depending on the number of sub-bands (K); and determining, bythe user device, the sub-band size for each of the one or more sub-bandsbased on at least: determining, by the user device, the sub-band sizefor at least one of the first and last sub-bands within the uplinkresources allocated to the user device based on previous configuration;determining, by the user device, the same sub-band size for each of theremaining sub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the userdevice based on a formula depending on the number of sub-bands (K). 8.The method of claim 1 wherein: the sub-band size (J) for each of the oneor more sub-bands is different for a plurality of different sizes (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device; a number of sub-bands (K)is a same value for different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated tothe user device; and the number of bits (m) per each of the sub-bandprecoder indications is a same value for different sizes (M) of uplinkresources allocated to the user device.
 9. The method of claim 1wherein: the sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands isa same value for different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated tothe user device; a number of sub-bands (K) is different for a pluralityof different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device;and the number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indicationsis different for a plurality of different sizes (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein: thesub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands is different fora plurality of different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to theuser device; a number of sub-bands (K) is different for a plurality ofdifferent sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device;and the number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indicationsis different for a plurality of different sizes (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein thedownlink control information is provided to the user device via asingle-step downlink configuration.
 12. An apparatus comprising at leastone processor and at least one memory including computer instructionsthat, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatusto perform a method of claim
 1. 13. A method comprising: receiving, by auser device from a base station in a wireless network, downlink controlinformation including at least an uplink grant that indicates at least asize (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device and one ormore sub-band precoder indications for one or more correspondingsub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the user device,wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one or more uplinkresources; determining a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters,including at least: a total number of bits (N) in the downlink controlinformation for the one or more sub-band precoder indications, whereinthe total number of bits (N) for the one or more sub-band precoderindications is the same for different sizes (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device; and a sub-band size (J) for each of theone or more sub-bands; wherein the sub-band size (J) for each of the oneor more sub-bands changes or is a different value based on differentsizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device; decoding thedownlink control information and extracting, based on at least a portionof the set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, a number ofsub-bands (K), a number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoderindications and each of the one or more sub-band precoder indications;and precoding, based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications,data for transmission via the one or more sub-bands.
 14. The method ofclaim 13 wherein the sub-band size for at least one of the one or moresub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to the user device isdifferent from the sub-band size for the other sub-bands within theuplink resources allocated to the user device.
 15. The method of claim13 wherein: a number of sub-bands (K) is a same value for differentsizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device; and thenumber of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications is asame value for different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to theuser device.
 16. The method of claim 13 and further comprising:transmitting, by the user device, the precoded data via the one or moresub-bands of the uplink resources allocated to the user device.
 17. Themethod of claim 13 wherein the determining a set of uplink sub-bandallocation parameters comprises: determining, by the user device, a setof uplink sub-band allocation parameters based on at least one of thefollowing: a table lookup based on the size (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device; and a formula that indicates a set ofuplink sub-band allocation parameters depending on the size (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device.
 18. An apparatuscomprising at least one processor and at least one memory includingcomputer instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor,cause the apparatus to perform a method of claim
 13. 19. An apparatuscomprising a computer program product including a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium and storing executable code that, whenexecuted by at least one data processing apparatus, is configured tocause the at least one data processing apparatus to perform a method ofclaim
 13. 20. A method comprising: receiving, by a user device from abase station in a wireless network, downlink control informationincluding at least an uplink grant that indicates at least a size (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device and one or more sub-bandprecoder indications for one or more corresponding sub-bands within theuplink resources allocated to the user device, wherein each of the oneor more sub-bands comprises one or more uplink resources; determining aset of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, including at least: atotal number of bits (N) in the downlink control information for the oneor more sub-band precoder indications, wherein the total number of bits(N) for the one or more sub-band precoder indications is the same fordifferent sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device;and a number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications;wherein the number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoderindications changes or is a different value based on different sizes (M)of uplink resources allocated to the user device; decoding the downlinkcontrol information and extracting, based on at least a portion of theset of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, a number of sub-bands (K)and each of the one or more sub-band precoder indications; andprecoding, based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications, datafor transmission via the one or more sub-bands.
 21. The method of claim20 wherein: the sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bandsis a same value for different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated tothe user device; and a number of sub-bands (K) is different for aplurality of different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to theuser device.
 22. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and atleast one memory including computer instructions that, when executed bythe at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform a method ofclaim
 20. 23. An apparatus comprising a computer program productincluding a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and storingexecutable code that, when executed by at least one data processingapparatus, is configured to cause the at least one data processingapparatus to perform a method of claim
 20. 24. A method comprising:receiving, by a user device from a base station in a wireless network,downlink control information including at least an uplink grant thatindicates at least a size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice and one or more sub-band precoder indications for one or morecorresponding sub-bands within the uplink resources allocated to theuser device, wherein each of the one or more sub-bands comprises one ormore uplink resources; determining a set of uplink sub-band allocationparameters, including at least: a total number of bits (N) in thedownlink control information for the one or more sub-band precoderindications, wherein the total number of bits (N) for the one or moresub-band precoder indications is the same for different sizes (M) ofuplink resources allocated to the user device; and a number of sub-bands(K); wherein the number of sub-bands (K) changes or is a different valuebased on different sizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the userdevice; decoding the downlink control information and extracting, basedon at least a portion of the set of uplink sub-band allocationparameters, a number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoderindications and each of the one or more sub-band precoder indications;and precoding, based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications,data for transmission via the one or more sub-bands.
 25. The method ofclaim 24 wherein: the sub-band size (J) for each of the one or moresub-bands is a same value for different sizes (M) of uplink resourcesallocated to the user device; and a number of bits (m) per each of thesub-band precoder indications is different for a plurality of differentsizes (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device.